A two-game week for the Columbia Crimson Tide football team almost yielded the team's first win of the season and a loss to the best team in the section.
Friday night in the rain, the Tide was a 48-0 loser to Lancaster Catholic, as the Crusaders celebrated their Homecoming with a big win.
Columbia is now 0-8 on the season and 0-5 in Section Three heading into the final two games of the season against Pequea Valley and Donegal, who have combined to win just two games this season and only one of those in league play. The Tide travels to play Pequea Valley on Friday. The Valley Braves are 1-7 overall and 0-5 in Section Three.
Friday night at a wet Rossmere Stadium, the Tide had no answer for the Crusaders' all-state quarterback Kyle Smith. He entered the game needing five touchdown passes to tie Manheim Township grad Pat Bostick's state record for career touchdown passes. He got four of them in the first half and tied the record early in the second half. He also scored once on the ground.
Smith needed just four plays to get his first touchdown passes, a two-yard scoring strike about three minutes into the game.
It was obvious from the start that the Crusader coaches wanted Smith to tie the record or even break it before the home fans and, on the Crusaders' next possession, he used his legs, not his arm to put Catholic ahead 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
After a Columbia fumble, Smith went airborne again and, with 5:36 left in the opening quarter, Catholic led 21-0 and Smith had accounted for all three scores two through the air and one on the ground.
Catholic also scored with about a minute to go in the first quarter on another touchdown pass from Smith.
After Columbia stumbled on the ensuing offensive possession, the Crusaders went to the ground and scored, leading 34-0 with 7:53 left in the first half.
After that score, the Tide got a little offense going. They finally passed midfield after Catholic misplayed a punt, but that was it. That ended up in Smith's fourth touchdown pass of the half with 3:27 left.
Catholic, leading 41-0, scored early in the second half to go ahead 48-0 on Smith's fifth scoring strike of the game.
Columbia's final possession of the first half resulted in them moving the ball to the Crusader side of the field.
Monday night, the Tide deserved better in a rain make-up home game with Annville-Cleona.
Annville-Cleona scored twice in the final five minutes to score a 21-14 come-from-behind win over Columbia Monday night in Columbia.
Trailing 14-7, the Little Dutchmen got the ball at the Tide 48 and, behind the running of Ricky Snyder, moved to the Tide 15.
On third down, A-C quarterback Tyson Hayes hit Josh Henning for a 15-yard score with 4:43 left in the game. Seth Lehfman's PAT tied the game at 14-14.
Following another Columbia punt, which gave A-C the ball at the Tide 23, the Little Dutchmen's offense stalled. Lehman trotted onto the field to try a 36-yard field goal with 2:01 left in the game, but it was short, giving the ball back to Columbia. With the game possibly headed to overtime, the Tide's Seth Lefever was picked off by Josh Henning, who returned the ball to the Tide 6. Three plays after the interception, Hayes found the end zone on a quarterback keeper with 34 seconds left, scoring the game-winning points. Annville-Cleona scored early in the second quarter on a 2-yard run by Snyder and that lead held up until the midway point of the third quarter. However, in the first half, Columbia was turned back from scoring when it moved the ball to the A-C 10 before a Lefever pass fell short with 2:12 left in the half. Columbia also had first-quarter touchdown called back because of a holding penalty.
In the third quarter, the Tide got on the scoreboard when Lefever hooked up with Michael Burke (5 catches, 153 yards) on an 82-yard pass play, but the two-point conversion failed. After the two teams exchanged a couple of points, Columbia took its first lead of the season, driving 71 yards in eight plays, scoring on a 7-yard run by D.J. Wells. The two-point conversion with 8:07 left in the game, a pass from Lefever to Alex Beckley, gave the Tide a 14-7 lead. Columbia was unable to milk the clock on its next possession, going three-and-out with two incomplete passes and didn't take any time off the clock, giving A-C a chance for the comeback.
In cross country, the Tide will have some runners compete in Hershey at this week's District Three championships.
Last week, the Tide runners competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championships at the Ephrata Middle School.
Here is how the Tide runners did:
Boys: Tony Bartion, 110th; Derek Zercher, 112th; Alan Foehlinger, 122nd; William Meyers, 139th and Kyle Fritz, 141st.
Girls: Rebecca Kuhn, 108th; Rachel Knighton, 118th and Amanda Pennington, 138th.
The Columbia girls' volleyball team closed their season last week with three
losses.
In their final match of the season, the Tide girls lost in three sets to Lampeter-Strasburg, 25-15, 25-17 and 25-14.
Scoring for the Tide were Emily Detz with four aces and Cai Kronenwetter with two kills
The Tide also lost to Lancaster Mennonite and a four-set non-league match to McCaskey.
